The judge in charge of the investigation into the explosion at the port of Beirut in 2020 indicted the attorney general on Tuesday (January 24) after making the same decision the day before for two powerful security officials.

To everyone's surprise, Judge Tarek Bitar decided on Monday to resume his investigation into this explosion which left more than 200 dead and 6,500 injured, after a suspension of more than a year, despite the enormous political pressure to which he is subject. .

Tarek Bitar has charged the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Ghassan Oueidate, and seven other people, including three magistrates, with "homicide", a first in the history of Lebanon, a judicial official said on Tuesday. AFP.

Reacting to this indictment, the Lebanese prosecutor's office on Tuesday rejected all the decisions of the judge in charge of the investigation.

The huge explosion of August 4, 2020 was caused by the careless storage of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate in a warehouse at the port.

It has been blamed by much of the population on the corruption and negligence of the ruling class, also accused by the families of victims and NGOs of torpedoing the investigation to avoid indictments.

According to the judicial official, Ghassan Oueidate had supervised in 2019 an investigation by the security services into cracks in the warehouse where the ammonium nitrate was stored without security measures.

Already on Monday, the names of two senior security officials whom Judge Bitar indicted had leaked.

They are the powerful director of General Security, Abbas Ibrahim, considered close to Hezbollah, and the head of State Security, Tony Saliba, close to former President Michel Aoun, whose mandate expired there. at three months.

Interviews in February

In total, thirteen people are being prosecuted, including five officials whom Tarek Bitar had already charged in the past, including former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and former ministers.

Judge Bitar set the dates for their interrogations, between February 6 and February 13, according to the judicial official.

Hassan Diab, who led the government during the explosion on August 4, 2020, had already refused to appear.

The magistrate decided to resume the investigation after an attempt by the authorities in recent months to appoint a substitute judge on their pay to bypass him.

But she came up short.

He has been prevented from carrying out his work by the 40 lawsuits launched against him by politicians, including those he wanted to interview, and by a campaign led by Hezbollah, which accuses him of bias.

“Port investigation: Tarek Bitar has gone mad,” headlined the daily Al-Akhbar on Tuesday, which is close to the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah which dominates political life in Lebanon.

The daily accuses Judge Bitar of acting "on the basis of American orders and with European judicial support".

Tarek Bitar had met last week two French magistrates, who came to Beirut as part of the investigation opened in France, French people who were among the victims of the explosion.

The State Department spokesperson assured that the United States "supports the Lebanese authorities and urges them to conduct a prompt and transparent investigation", according to a tweet Tuesday from the American Embassy in Beirut.

>> To read: Explosions at the port of Beirut: who wants the skin of judge Tarek Bitar?

With AFP

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